Sacrificial Lamb
by Serial Experiments Kate
Summary: 1998: Scalet Trevor of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team, follows the perrilous wake of her compatriots as they venture into the Arklay Mountains. With her trust misplaced in Captain Wesker, will she take his words over his actions or succumb to a violent death. Possible AU Rated M for gore and language. Wesker/OC.
1. Chapter 1: Home Sweet Home

Well here it is. It may not be much to look at but its a start. Review fairly if you have to review. Just go easy on me as this is my first story and please let me know of any and all errors.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Resident Evil, Capcom does :P

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**Sacrificial Lamb**

Chapter One:

Home Sweet Home.

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While the early morning sun glistened through the haze of clouds over Raccoon city and the wildlife prowling its outskirts frolicked, was the sound of an old engine revving hard. It echoed from inside the garage of a small farmstead just out of the city limits, a private piece of acreage that belonged to an elderly couple named Roger and Paige Trevor. It was a rustic old house with a tattered picket fence, several flower beds of meticulously cared for roses, hyacinths and tulips and a narrow dirt driveway that stretched the long distance from the garage to the street.

As the old engine spluttered and grumbled, Mr. Trevor stood clad in coveralls with his balding head under the blue/silver hood of a 1971 Ferrari 365 GT Daytona. It was an old and tired machine, but one that he cherished, as it had belonged to his late Brother George. He twiddled away with a spanner at the engine, provoking a varying degree of noisy responses from the sports car, but above all the racket, his wife's voice was clearest.

'Breakfast, Rog!'

Far more concerned with his Brother's pride and joy, Roger waved a deft response and closed his eyes as he listened to the motor grumble. With a shrug of indifference Paige closed the old wooden door to the garage and let her husband be with his tinkering. With the years of guilt and grieving, she knew it was his way of coping, to disassociate himself and escape to a world where the most important and demanding thing was a car in need of maintenance.

Passing through the kitchen and its rich smell of eggs and rashers of bacon, Paige stepped through a hallway and began the ascent up the creaking wooden staircase that made her feel her age. Having reached the second floor to the reverberating sound of the Ferrari, the elderly woman shuffled down the hallway and stepped up the first three rungs of the drop-down attic ladder and poked her head into the dusty attic. Before her in the twilight mist and halls of light with their swathes of dust particles, stood a young Caucasian woman with dark hair in a ponytail who was wearing nothing more than sweats and a tank top.

'Scarlet, breakfast is ready.'

The young woman stopped midway through a high kick into a punching bag and turned as she exhaled. 'Thanks Auntie, I'll be down after I have a shower.'

'Don't take too long, dear.' Said Paige as she stepped from Scarlet's vision.

With her Aunt gone, Scarlet turned back to the worn punching bag and grunted as she drove the ball of her foot into the leather as hard as she could. As her foot returned to the ground she exhaled and watched as the heavy bag swang back and forth on the rope that suspended it from the ceiling. She halted the bag's momentum with a finger and headed for the ladder, exhausted from her daily regimen of her somewhat limited Taekwondo skills.

Trotting down the ladder with ease, she kicked the spring loaded ladder with the back of her heel and heard it snap closed against the ceiling. With her slender body dripping with sweat she quickly snatched some clean underwear and a sports bra before heading into the shower. Scarlet opened the hamper in the bathroom, stripped off, dumped her dirty clothes and opened the rippled glass door and let the pulsating warmth of the shower ease her stressed mind into a better place.

'_If only I could feel like this all the time.'_

She could faintly recognise the rumble of her Father's Ferrari over the beating of water against her ears, and just like that, the thoughts came back like flood waters through a storm drain. It had been years since she'd heard from her Father, even longer since she'd seen him—or her mother and sister for that matter. Having only been five years old when she was left in Vancouver with her Aunt and Uncle; it hardly seemed fair to her at the time that her Mom and Dad and older Sister got to travel back to America to finish her Father's project while she was forced to stay with her Aunt and Uncle in a foreign land.

'_But if I'd been with them, I'd probably be missing too now...or worse.'_

When she'd waved them off at the airport, just a teary-eyed little girl with dark pigtails and red cheeks from the cold, it had been for the last time. For the first few months it was business as usual, her Dad was working for one of the most famous business owners in the States and had been commissioned for a personal project. Scarlet would get phone calls from her family, treating each and every one like Christmas, to her it was just as exciting—every call a chance to hear about progress, how nice it was in Raccoon City, all the souvenirs they were going to buy her and how wealthy they'd be when the project was finished. But that was all, words over a phone line and soon enough, they were all gone.

As Scarlet stared into the pastel green tiling of the shower, dwelling on thoughts she knew best left unprovoked, she didn't notice that the water racing across her pale skin had grown cold or that the familiar grunting of her Dad's sports car had disappeared. She just stood there within her frail, fleshy armour; her dark brown eyes fixed on the ugly tiles. It didn't matter to her what had occurred to her family. Had they been killed in some accident or began anew without her? She would never know, and it was pointless to try.

'Scarlet?' Called her Aunt's voice from downstairs.

Scarlet's eyes blinked under heavy lids as she snapped out of her mood. 'Coming,' she called as the sudden wave of cold came over her, "Shit, shit, shit."

Her hands moved in a slippery blur over the faucets, struggling to shut the cascade of freezing water over her head and shoulders. Stepping out of the shower and into the cold air she shivered and wrapped a towel around herself and one up and around her shoulder-length chocolate brown hair. The ends of which for about an inch and a half were still pink from when she'd had it dyed.

'You've used up all the hot water again.' Noted her Uncle Roger as he forked a sliver of eggwhite.

'Sorry, I lost track of time.' Said Scarlet as she sat herself, wrapped in a bathrobe, in one of the ancient chairs around the small kitchen table.

Her Uncle shot her a sidelong glance with his pale green eyes, his eyes had always reminded her of the tiling in their bathroom, not that she'd dare say it.

'Well, try not to "lose track of time" again," Said the old man. 'The boiler wasn't built to put up with that kind of abuse.'

'I've only done that a couple of times, Uncle.' Explained Scarlet with a mouthful of peppered bacon.

The old man shrugged and grumbled. 'Just don't come crying to me when the boiler blows up.'

'Stop it you,' Chimed in her Aunt as she smacked Roger on the shoulder with a wooden spoon. 'If the boiler does ever explode it will be because of _your_ fiddling with it, not because of _our_ bathing.'

Scarlet scoffed and sat up straight with a smug grin. 'Thank you Auntie.'

Paige sat down at the table and poured a cup of Formosa Oolong tea, passing it to her husband before filling another cup and handing it in withered and shaky hands to her niece. Scarlet let the strong aroma fill her lungs before she took in a long sip and sighed. It was beyond her understanding, but her Aunt always made tea a thing of beauty.

'So what are your plans for the day?' Asked Paige.

'I'm looking to fix that old drier down in the basement.' Said Roger with a mouthful of egg, several drops of yellowed spittle slipping between his teeth as he spoke.

Paige sighed and smiled at Scarlet. 'I was asking you, sweetie.'

Scarlet glanced to the clock above the fridge. 'I've got work in half an hour. I haven't planned on anything outside of that...I might see if anyone wants to go out after work.'

'If you're going drinking take the Chevy, you're not driving the Daytona up the mountains drunk out of your skull.' Said Roger.

'Leave her be.' Said Paige as she made tea.

Roger groaned. 'You shouldn't be drinking anyway, a girl your age.'

'I'm twenty-six, Uncle. And I'm not going to go out just to get _drunk_. I have to drive, so I wouldn't drunk anyway,' Said Scarlet, rolling her dark eyes at her grumpy uncle. 'Hey, I thought you said the Daytona was out of commission again.'

'Here we go.' Interrupted Paige as she slouched and propped her head against her palm, awaiting the inevitable rant on cars her husband would no doubt give.

Roger looked to Paige and tooled the leftover bacon on his plate with his fork. 'I'll bore you with it later.'

'Well, if it's running I'll take it to work,' Said Scarlet as she balled up a large portion of egg and bacon and crammed it in her mouth. 'I should get going soon anyway.' And with that she stood abruptly, pecked her Aunt and Uncle on the forehead and trode back upstairs.

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While in her small room, Scarlet sat in front of her vanity mirror, blow-drying her damp and knotted waves. She sat silently amongst her clutter of possessions, her bed lazily thrown together into a pseudo-neat layer of blankets and comforters. When her hair had finally dried she brushed it with a grimace and tied her shoulder-length locks into a tight bun—which appeared to be entirely pink with a few brown streaks thanks to her previous dye job.

She leant over the vanity mirror's desk and peered at her face in the mirror. Opening her mouth she looked at her teeth, ignoring the signs of decay and the few fillings she had in her molars. Satisfied, she tongued the back of the onyx stud just below her bottom lip, smiled like a goof and stood.

She threw the bathrobe onto her comforter and opened her old wooden cupboards, pulling out the white RPD and S.T.A.R.S. emblazoned short-sleeve shirt along with a black sports bra. With a furrowing of her pierced brow, she squeezed into the tight yet supportive bra and slipped into the loose shirt. Having been blessed with generous breasts may have seemed like a gift to some, but Scarlet secretly hated it. With larger breasts, her back would ache, she couldn't run as easy and it made her Taekwondo a hassle. But at least they filled out her uniform.

After pulling on a pair of unappealing panties, her charcoal gray combat pants and her combat boots, she slipped a dainty silver wristwatch that had belonged to her Mother around her left wrist and knelt down. Beneath her bed—amongst a plethora of shoes but away from prying eyes—was a metal case that was home to her Berretta. After rolling the correct sequence into the lock, she popped the box open and threaded the holster around her pants. Having finished getting ready, she headed for the door, stopping as she looked to her bedside table where three family photos stood.

Scarlet picked up one of her Sister and kissed it softly. 'Bye, Lisa, take care of Mom and Dad for me.'

'_I hope you're still out there somewhere.'_

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Yes, I know it was short, I'm sorry. Be patient, I have a lot to do. And thank you for reading and such!


	2. Chapter 2: Person of Interest

Hi peoples ;) I just wanted to say thank you to SinglePringle15 for the review, fav and subs; and cjjs for the review. Both of you are awesome-sauce. So, without further adieu, here is chapter two.

Also, please help me if you see any mistakes and such it's like nearly 4AM and I'm soooo tired lol.

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**Chapter Two:**

Person of Interest

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Her pulse quickened as she feathered the throttle, a swift curl of her lips as the V8 rumbled. Scarlet let herself sink into the cracked leather as she put an elbow on the door, the cool summer breeze billowing in and around the old Ferrari. It was a guilty pleasure of hers, one that she rarely got to satiate thanks to the high level of maintenance the old sports car demanded. But, at every given chance, she would cut loose with the Italian stallion and lose herself in the exhaust note as it echoed up the mountain roads to Raccoon City.

It was a beautiful morning, Scarlet noticed through the sombre tint of aviator sunglasses, the amber sun casting its long shadows over the oaks and elms of the forests. It was almost a nice enough day to consider playing hooky—although Scarlet hadn't done so since her college days—if it weren't for the professionalism demanded of her by the State. But as she traversed the hills and winding roads, the thought seemed no less palpable.

Yet as she slid the car through a narrow hairpin turn, she snapped herself from the girlish daze she'd escaped to and dragged herself back to reality. It was hardly a time for her to fantasize about slacking off, not when she had so much to do. Even though it was a struggle at times, Scarlet focused on doing her job and in her line of work, concentration was paramount.

_'Don't forget what brought you here in the first place; what would Mom say if she could see you now?'_

Having passed the fifteen minutes it took to drive from her Uncle's farmstead—10 if there was no traffic—to Raccoon City by mentally lecturing herself, the young brunette meandered the eye-catching sports car through the narrow alleys and backstreets of Raccoon City's less than appealing slums. She'd only been through the slums a few times, none of which had been on her own time and on those said occasions, she'd always ended up bruised, threatened or spat on by the thugs that resided there. Some of the glances she'd receive from the habitants would almost bring her skin to crawling, and unfortunately for her, the passing through had been necessary this morning.

Pulling up outside of a small series of one-storey apartments, she honked the Ferrari's horn twice in succession as she craned her head towards the cracked weatherboards and security screened homes. From one hidden behind another came a tall, young man with dark hair styled into a plethora of small spikes. Scarlet let a bashful smile grace her lips as he approached, noticing his taught musculature beneath his S.T.A.R.S. uniform and the brown bomber jacket he held over one shoulder.

'Good morning, Mr. Redfield.' Said Scarlet with a playful grin, watching through her shades as Chris approached the driver's side of the Ferrari.

'Morning,' Said Chris. 'How about you move over and let me drive, h-uh?'

Scarlet murmured indifference. 'I don't think so, if I recall correctly, isn't your truck in the shop?'

'It is,' Confirmed Chris as he slid into the passenger seat and folded the heavy jacket into his lap. 'Only because I got side-swiped by a soccer Mom.'

Scarlet peeled out and fought the urge to banter. 'Well, even if I wanted to, my Uncle would kill me if I did.'

''Tis a shame.' Said Chris as he rolled down his window, the breeze ceasing to buffer.

Scarlet was glad to see Chris was his usual happy self. Having recently been chewed out by their superior officer: Captain Wesker for insubordination had put him in a bad mood for the last couple of workdays. While it had only affected her indirectly, she knew it would be good for his partner Jill, Chris' temper could get the best of him and Jill had often been forced to act as a sheath to his proverbial sword.

'Have you seen today's paper?' Asked Scarlet as she slowed at an intersection.

Chris nodded. 'Yeah, the attacks are getting closer to town.'

A rash of disturbing murders had cropped up seemingly overnight in the past week. Every tabloid and newspaper within the tri-State area had jumped at the latest news. Scarlet knew it was only a matter of time before S.T.A.R.S. would be involved in the case. Chris and other members of their elite team had already reported on several units in the RPD investigating, most of which finding no trails to follow and only grisly crime scenes to mop up.

_'How could someone do such a thing?'_

'It's morbid.' Stated Scarlet as she grimaced, the thought of being butchered and eaten creeping through her mind.

Chris folded his arms. 'Makes me wish sometimes that we lived in a State that supported capital punishment.'

'That's nothing compared to what those sicko's put those people through.' Said Scarlet as she pulled into the RPD underground lot.

_'Those victims had families, how can their children ever accept that their parents had been eaten...by other humans no less.'_

Having parked and locked her Father's classic car, Scarlet and Chris walked through the dank lot and made their way up into the bowels of the expansive and highly decorative Police Station. Halfway up the stairs to their office, Chris peeled off and walked alongside Jill Valentine, his partner. While Scarlet had harbored a crush on Chris from time to time, she knew all too well that he had his blue eyes set square on Jill. For the most part her infatuation with Chris Redfield had been sheerly because of his body—he _was_ a hunk after all—with his crystal eyes, military body and boyish features it was no wonder why.

Once again, Scarlet pulled herself from her own mind and forced her deep hazel eyes from Chris' buttocks.

_'Get your mind out of the gutter, woman.'_

Whilst thinking she'd have arrived well before her cohorts, Scarlet was quite surprised upon entering the S.T.A.R.S. office to see that Chris, Jill and herself had been in fact last to show up. Weaving her way across the dark gray, polished porcelain tiling and through the narrow passages between the small, timber cubicles; Scarlet planted herself in the office chair of her desk opposite Richard Aiken. She glanced up at the blonde man, noticing the dark bags beneath his green eyes and the heavy crease in his brow.

'Jesus...'

'What's wrong?' Asked Scarlet, sitting up so she could peer over the wooden divider between them.

'This is,' Explained Richard as he flipped the newspaper around so she could see the incredibly graphic photograph of a male corpse in his mid-thirties, the majority of his face mauled beyond recognition. 'Some asshole journalist snuck off with the coroner's photographs, these pictures are cropping up everywhere now.'

The procedural snapshots by the coroner were meant to be highly detailed and accurate, and now that they'd been leaked to the media, every two-bit paper would get their own copies. The entire City would be swarming with them before the week was over and with them would come the political outcry of the public.

'It's the families of the victims who are going to suffer from this the most,' Chimed in Barry as he stepped by with an armful of files. 'No way in hell I'd ever want my girls seeing something as gruesome as those.'

Scarlet furrowed her brow as Barry stopped mid-step and peered at the paper closer. 'Wait a second,' Said the hefty man as he snatched the paper from Richard's hands. 'I know this guy...Ben Bertolucci...yeah, this is the journalist whose been hounding the Chief for the past month and a half.'

'Gossip on your own time people,' Beckoned Captain Wesker, his stern voice overshadowing Barry's revelation. 'The Work won't do itself.'

'And back into the depraved madness we go.' Muttered Joseph from somewhere behind her, his derogatory remark going unnoticed by Alpha's Captain.

While the cannibalistic murder wave had been the talk of the town and even more so the word on everyone's lips in the RPD, Scarlet had found herself preoccupied with her own interests. The murders had been horrific and inhumane, but in her eyes they were not the most important circumstance to arise as of late, especially as S.T.A.R.S. wasn't even involved with the case.

With a hasty scratch at the back of her neck and a quick glance at her wristwatch, the dark haired woman with a pink bun thumbed through her "In" box and resumed working on the cases she'd been assigned. Yet as her eyes wandered across the pages of profile information, complaint records and such, her mind was focussed on the time. It was only a few minutes past 9 A.M. which meant she was forced to subside her anxiousness for the several hours until lunch.

_'You'd better not let me down, Forest.'_

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Finally free for the lunch hour, and having wracked her mind into completing a couple—to the extent she could complete—of the cases, Scarlet descended the stairs into the sweltering humidity of the underground lot. With the midday sun above the city, the forecast heatwave was finally letting its impact be felt. Sighing, Scarlet tugged on her shirt until the top button came free. She walked at a brisk pace towards the lot she'd parked her Father's Ferrari in, noticing in the dark and poorly lit surroundings a silhouette leaning against it.

'I was hoping you'd come through.' Said Scarlet as she unlocked the car and stepped inside, the man doing likewise.

'Trust me,' Began Forest Speyer of Bravo team. 'It wasn't easy.'

Scarlet grinned. 'Nothing worth doing is ever easy.'

'That's a given, Scarlet,' Quipped Forest as he adjusted his long, chocolate brown hair into a ponytail and exhaled, his voice wrought with discomfort. 'We should do this in a secluded area.'

'Feeling the pressure, h-uh big guy?' Said Scarlet. 'I didn't think you'd rattle so easy from a little corporate espionage.'

Forest scoffed and relaxed into the seat. 'And _I_ didn't expect you to come to me looking to dig through decade old cases that have nothing to do with our unit.'

'Sorry,' Apologised Scarlet, raising her palms in surrender. 'I thought you said you had a friend who could help us out.'

'Doesn't make it any less dangerous,' Said Forest. 'C'mon, we don't have much time.'

'Alright, I know a place we can go.' Said Scarlet as she cranked the ignition and felt the engine rumble into life with a tired groan.

For nearly seven straight minutes Scarlet drove through the meanders of the ranges, her lips tight and her heart pensive. For the entirety of the trip Forest had sat in silence, his head propped against a closed fist, his blue eyes focussed on the road ahead. His demeanour had come as a shock to Scarlet, she'd worked with him on numerous occasions and he'd developed quite a rapport with the younger member's of S.T.A.R.S. and the R.P.D. coming off as an older brother figure. No one would pick it, but he was more the pillar that everyone leaned on than she'd initially though.

_'What's got him so tense, though?'_

Slowing to a stop, Scarlet indicated and pulled into a small, gravel outlook on the side of the mountain pass. She turned off the ignition and stared out into the blue beyond, Raccoon City a good 300 feet below them. She turned to Forest as he opened his door, following suit. She trailed the tall, lean man to the guard railing and placed her hands on the cool steel. The two seemed to stand in a mutual impasse, neither one seeming to know where to begin. The brunette woman expected as much with the nature of her private investigation, involving Forest began to seem like a mistake.

As a strong gust galed around them, Forest put a gloved hand to his vest and yanked at the velcro-lined lapel. While most of S.T.A.R.S. only put their bulletproof vests on in a time of emergency, Scarlet had noted that Forest was never seen without it, much like Barry Burton. A trait that long-term cops seem to develop. She cocked an eyebrow as he retrieved a beige envelope from inside his vest and handed it to her, keeping his gaze on the horizon.

'I hope this is what you were looking for.' Said Forest, his tone foreboding.

Scarlet slipped a finger through the side of the envelope and broke the seal, her dark eyes quickly shifting over its contents.

After a few minutes of silence passed, Forest said: 'Well?'

'Is this all?' Asked Scarlet, her features wrinkling with expectation.

'Is that all?' Repeated Forest in disbelief. 'Just _that_ alone is enough to bring Internal Affairs down my neck _and_ Rivers' in Cold Case.'

Scarlet exasperated and motioned to the file with her free hand. 'I'm sorry, Forest. Ninety-percent of this is blacked out.'

'That's what tells me this is dangerous,' Forest sighed and leant against the railing, crossing his arms across his midriff. 'Whatever was written there before has been blacklisted. It was trouble enough just getting my hands on what's there.'

Still in a state of confusion, Scarlet peered down at the valuable and incriminating material in her hands and tried to form as much sense from it as she could. In detail the file was nothing more than a preliminary report filed several years ago about the disappearance of a family of three in the Arklay Mountains. The detective in charge had gone to the expected lengths to track down what had happened to the people of interest but had turned up little.

_'I guess this was moot. I hope this won't come down on Forest and his friend.'_

Forest noticed the concerned look on his compatriot's face and came to her side. 'How long have you been in the force, Trevor?'

Scarlet shrugged. 'A little over three years, why?'

'You just didn't seem it, that's all.' Said the tall brunette as he thumbed through several leafs. 'Usually if a file is blacked-out it's because someone in the Department—or the Feds—have deemed the information highly confidential. For all intents and purposes this shouldn't have even been in Cold Case.'

'A clerical error?' Wondered Scarlet.

'Or someone else has been snooping around as well,' Said Forest as he pointed out a passage. 'This is what's been wracking my mind...it says the investigation turned up no reason for probable cause against the landowner of the estate: one Ozwell E. Spencer. But, several years after the case went cold, someone re-opened the case.'

Scarlet gave Forest a worrying glance as his cold eyes scanned the pages.

'See, right here?' Said Forest, underlining the name with his finger. 'It was re-opened a couple of years ago by Captain Albert Wesker.'

_'Wesker?'_

Forest continued: 'While it doesn't say what he did with it, the file was definitely blacklisted after he'd had his hands on it. And if that's the case, then either Wesker knows something about the case the original detective didn't, or he's been stepping on too many toes looking into it.'

Scarlet sat against the rail, closing the file and peering to the cloudless sky. 'What on Earth would the Captain want with this?'

'Relax,' Said Forest as he took her side and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 'Wesker's a good cop—a hardass—but a good cop nonetheless, I'm sure if you approach him after work he'll let you in on the case.'

Scarlet scoffed a dismissal. 'Yeah, right...until three years ago I didn't even know if my family were dead or alive or even if they'd just left me,' She let out a quiet sigh. 'Wasn't until a private investigator I'd talked to while I was studying at NYiT told me he'd found their last known location and said they'd been reported as missing.'

Forest stood, stuffing his hands into his pockets. 'You know, more than two-hundred thousand missing person reports are filed every year. I know you don't want to hear this, but its more likely they've been kidnapped or killed than just "missing".'

_'Forest's right there's no way they could have been missing for all this time without finding a way to contact me.'_

As her deep hazel eyes peered into the midday horizon, the cityscape expanding before her, she let the pleasant breeze blow against her warm, pale skin. In the end it didn't matter if Wesker had been doing his own investigation or whether he'd been involved to some extent via other means. The fact of the matter was, he knew something about the disappearance of her Parents and Sister and that meant she'd have to confront him. Taking a deep breath, Scarlet closed her eyes and tried to force the intimidating visage of Wesker's smirk from her mind's eye.

_'I can't let this overwhelm me.'_

A loud crackle of static erupted from the radio attached to her belt, snapping her from her thoughts, she quickly tugged at the small device and listened as the Dispatch Operator's voice crackled over the airwaves.

'Attention S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team, Ten Thirty-Three in progress at Umbrella Inc. Plaza,' Echoed the Operator. 'Repeat, Ten Thirty-Three in progress at Umbrella Inc. Plaza.'

Scarlet looked to Forest. 'Are you alright to get yourself back to the station?'

'I'll fish a cruiser to pick me up.' Replied Forest.

Scarlet nodded as she held the radio to her lips. 'Officer Trevor, Alpha Team, en route.'

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That's that, thanks for reading ;) Let me know what you think by hitting that 'review' link.


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